NATCHEZ — After a nine-and-a-half month search, protests outside of City Hall and a walkout by aldermen, the City of Natchez finally has a permanent police chief.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen unanimously appointed Danny White as the chief of the Natchez Police Department at the board’s Tuesday meeting. White had been serving as interim chief.

White said after the meeting that he was ready to hit the ground running now that he is officially chief.

“Right now I am going to continue to do the job I’ve been doing (as interim chief),” White said. “We may make some moves within the department in the future to improve the department.”

White received the appointment over Rudolph A. Babin, a retired Baton Rouge Police Department captain.

The police chief position was left open after the board asked former chief Mike Mullins to retire early in November 2011.

Former Mayor Jake Middleton’s original timetable including having a chief appointed by January. Middleton has said casino negotiations and other city business pushed back the search for a chief.

Ward 2 Alderman James “Rickey” Gray made the motion at Tuesday’s meeting to hire White. Gray previously made a motion at the board’s April 10 meeting to hire White. Former mayor Jake Middleton broke a 3-3 tie at the meeting that was split along racial lines by voting against hiring White.

Two weeks later, Ward 5 Alderman Mark Fortenbery made a motion to hire Babin at the board’s April 24 meeting. Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Gray and Ward 4 Alderman Ernest “Tony” Fields walked out of the meeting in protest against what they said was a racially motivated push to not permanently hire White, who is black.

White, a Natchez native has spent almost 29 years at the Natchez Police Department, where he started as a booking officer in 1983.

White graduated from Alcorn State University in 1974 with a degree in social science. He also has a master’s in guidance counseling from Alcorn.

White became a patrol officer in 1987 and worked in the patrol division for 11 years. After being promoted to sergeant in 1999, White was put in charge of the Criminal Investigation Division and was later promoted to lieutenant.

White took over the operations division in 2003 and was promoted to captain in 2005. The operations division oversees the patrol, criminal investigation, K9 patrol, crime prevention and housing divisions.